2

1

Action area

Water

Handling water responsibly is a key component of our

strategy. This relates both to the manufacturing process

itself as well as to product optimizations that help th

e

end user to conserve this natural resource.

Reduced water consumption in manufacturin

g

To reduce water consumption, our facility in Hornber

g

already uses 62 % recycled water – more than 40 million

liters per year. The proportion of fresh water is bein

g

constantly reduced. We are also strongly promoting water

recycling at our other sites, partly within manufacturing,

partly for irrigating the green spaces around the buildings

.

Product-speci

fic, responsible handling of wate

r

We are continually optimizing our products so that they

can conserve resources during use. For example, the us

e

of water-saving buttons saves 290 million liters of fresh

water every year in Europe (aggregate sales figures fro

m

2012-2020). We optimized the

flush mechanism on our

toilets to enable this as far back as 15 years ago

.

Additionally, the Uni

fied Water Label (UWL) provides

a transparent classification of our products’ water

consumption for the end consumer.